Mary had a little ...

Caley Mayo walks with her lamb before the Open Junior Market Lamb Show Saturday.

DUDLEY --It's a bumper crop year for the Rosewood High School Agricultural Department, with 16 students entered into the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair lamb show Saturday.

Advisor Allison Jennings has been bringing her students to the farm animal show circuit for nine years but said she never has never had so many students participate before.

Seth Smith, a freshman at Rosewood, took part in the competition for the first time in the intermediate class.

"It runs in the family," Smith said, pointing out that his older brother competed in the senior age group. "I named (my lamb) Dinner because he was the dumbest one out of the bunch. He's pretty smart now but he was real dumb."

Rosewood Freshmen Collin Scrufari had a tough time controlling his lamb, Shelby, during the competition, and didn't make it to the final round.

"I didn't present her as well as I could," Collin said afterward.

Hunter Carr, a sophomore at Rosewood, competed in the senior handler competition.

"I did all right, but she wouldn't set up. We did good but she wanted to turn to the side, so we finished in sixth," Carr said. "We got $5 though, and I can get a drink."

Isaiah Bordeaux entered the competition for the first time as well but with a twist-- his lamb had no name at all.

Bordeaux is a freshman at Rosewood.

In the showmanship division, the handlers and not the lambs are judged, to see how well they show off their animals and how much they know about them. The judges are looking for the way the handler presents the different aspects of the lamb's physique while they walk around the ring and assume various poses.

After the handlers are judged, the animals themselves are judged based on body type, muscular build and ease of handling.

The judge chooses a few handlers out of each group to come back into the ring for the final round and will sometimes offer suggestions to those he did not choose on how to improve their performance for the next show.

Throughout the year, the young handlers travel around the region trying to accumulate points at various competitions until the State Fair, when they will give their final showing of the year and state awards will be decided.

Kelsey Bentley, 17, of Kenly is currently in second place in the region in points and looking to pull in another title this year at the State Fair.